Give ANC run for its money to fix mess – Obasanjo
‘Bad governance hampers growth’
The ANC will have to be given a “fight for its money” before it fixed itself, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo has said.
His comments come as the ANC faces criticism from opposition parties, religious bodies and its own alliance partners over President Jacob Zuma’s leadership. Obasanjo was among the strongest and most vocal supporters of the party during apartheid.
In an interview, Obasanjo said it was possible for liberation movements to “convert themselves”, but where they failed to do so, they risked becoming irrelevant.
He was in SA to launch a book which he co-authored with Greg Mills, the director of the Brenthurst Foundation, called Making Africa Work – A Handbook for Economic Success.
“Here I don’t really know what’s going on because the ANC is the majority party. You will not get it right until the ANC can be given a good fight for their money,” he said.
A critical problem hampering SA’s economic growth was governance and not management of the economy itself.
“Because of the governance problems that you have, it flows into the management of the economy, the confidence in the economy,” Obasanjo said.
SA and Nigeria had to get their houses in order, politically and economically, or they would not be effective. Inadequate leadership in general was a problem, with leaders failing to take responsibility for their actions, he said.